To Pizza and Back

It feels like eons since we took this ride, but it needs a post, just the same, especially since it was a photographic trip, too, rather than just a cycling one.

Not to mention that we had no idea that there apparently is a little reservoir next to the Chester County Trail:

Given how small the image is, you might still not believe it — but there’s a lovely patch of water there, behind the flora. From the perspective of my computer, it looks positively Caribbean, allowing for the fact that the vegetation is all wrong, and, you know . . . it isn’t!

We discovered it on the way to what is now the eastern end of the Chester Valley Trail, which turns into a parking lot just before Gulph Road. That just happens to be the location of our favorite Pizza joint.

Basil and Argyll checked out the front window while Dr. Diarist and I indulged. Basil — the herbal kind — and mozzarella with a ton of other herbs, oh yeah!

Then we rode back to Exton, snapping bridges and overpasses on the way.

Clean, traditional lines on this one. Gotta love those angles!

It overlooks Highway 202, which is more usually a clogged commuting artery. On summer weekends so many people go to the shore that it’s often nearly empty — except on Friday and Sunday nights when the shore crowd spends miserable hours getting to and from.

The Chester Valley Trail gets its own sign on this overpass — and a cage against mischief.

At Warner Road I snapped this bulwark. I think these are hideous, especially finished in that awful blah beige, but they are apparently effective at what they’re supposed to be doing. Short on aesthetics, but high on utility.

Utility counts, though, and a working trail is something to evoke genuine gratitude.

More virtually empty highway, under the overpass. We usually travel different routes these days, but it’s still odd to see so little traffic.

Quiet days.

That’s Contention Lane, below.

I finally looked it up, and learned that British commander William Howe had made his headquarters at a home on the lane during the Revolutionary War, which was interesting, but didn’t necessarily explain the provocative name of the street.

Further along there’s another beige monstrosity, improved by bit of greenery. The tunnel’s rather fun, even if the outside isn’t particularly interesting.

Sometimes, too, the underside of an ordinary overpass is worth a look. I like the corduroy effect between the girders, though this isn’t really any kind of corduroy roadway.

At Church Road, Basil and I rode down a short access road to get this shot of the overpass. (We’ve done this before.) I’m partial to this rather organic look; it does the job, but blends into the landscape less jarringly than concrete slabs.

Then it’s an old favorite, still being refurbished. Sometimes people can’t resist shouting when going through this archway; I admit Basil and I have sounded his bell a few times. Resonance is irresistible!

No curves in the tunnel at Swedesford Road; it’s all rectangle.

Then, further along, mishmash — a small arch with a buttress on each side, fit a little bit like a child’s mismatched wooden blocks.

Back at the Exton trailhead, Basil and Argyll were not pleased to see that the new section, which will continue to Ship Road, was still barred to use.

In spite of signs forbidding it, we regularly see people cycling down this pristine asphalt. We don’t, and I’m not so sure that our Bromptons approve of our good citizenship. Soon enough, guys!

The NO TRESPASSING sign does not say “absolutely.” A wonderful site somewhat just off the trail, up Valley Forge Rd. to Devon State Road to Berwyn Baptist Road (a very steep hill), is Jenkins Arboretum. http://www.jenkinsarboretum.org

Also as you enter Malvern Wegman’s shopping area, heading west, look down below the cast iron fence to the pond below with its array of flora and fauna.